The Basics
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon) is a shoujo manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. The series debuted in February 1992 as a continuation of Codename: Sailor V, published in Kondansha’s monthly Nakayoshi magazine. It was the first successful combination of the magical girl and super sentai (super hero team) genres. The popularity of the BSSM manga spawned a hit anime series that spanned five seasons, three movies, dozens of musicals, video games and much more. A brand new anime titled Sailor Moon Crystal, based closer to the original manga, aired in 2014 as a celebration of the series’ 20th Anniversary.
And the Story Goes
The story takes place the 20th Century in Azabu-Juuban, in Azabu district of Minato-ku, Tokyo where there was a fourteen year old girl known as Tsukino Usagi. She was in most cases seen as an teenage girl – lazy, clumsy, easily distracted and more interested in video games and shoujo manga than her studies. She lived with her mother, father and younger brother and enjoyed a relatively peaceful life. However her normal existence would be disrupted one fateful day when she encountered a black cat with a crescent moon symbol on its forehead.
The cat later follows Usagi home and reveals not only that she can talk (and is named Luna), but also that Usagi herself is destined to become something greater than she ever imagined – she is to become the defender of justice, the pretty-suited soldier SAILOR MOON. It is a role that Usagi doesn't really want to take on at first, complaining that she'd rather go back her to old life and enjoy being a teenager. Gradually she came to accept her duties as a sailor senshi and gained new allies and friends along the way. The senshi – Sailor Moon, Mars, Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus and Mercury – along with Mamoru (Usagi's beloved from the past) found themselves battling one new enemy after the other, each seeking to harm their planet or unleash the darkness upon the universe in some way. Through these battles they came closer and closer to the true enemy, the source of all evil in their galaxy – Chaos.
The Final Chapter (SPOILERS)
In the final arc of Sailor Stars – the final season of the series, the entire universe is under attack by SAILOR GALAXIA, a sailor solder who was wandering the universe in search of this ultimate power. In her search she came across CHAOS – who in the Sailor Moon universe is the embodiment and source of all the evil in the galaxy – and is told about the GALAXY CAULDRON - an ancient place that is said to be the place where all stars are born, the center of the entire galaxy. Galaxia goes to the Galaxy Cauldron and essentially makes it her home-base of operations and all the while she descends upon planet after planet, stealing all of the star seeds and sailor crystals of the plane's inhabitants and guardians. Galaxia takes out each of the main system senshi one by one – Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto – and even takes the time to take the Sailor Crystals belonging to Princess Kakyuu and her three guardians (senshi from another planet that was destroyed, but they somehow managed to escape). This leaves only two people left – Sailor Moon and Chibi Chibi, a little mysterious girl who appeared randomly to Usagi earlier in the arc. Sailor Moon travels to the center of the galaxy – to the Galaxy Cauldron to confront Galaxia, to save her friends and restore balance to the universe.
Despite all of Galaxia's power, she cannot stand up to the bright radiance that is Usagi's soul – her purity and light shine through the darkness of Galaxia's heart and she folds. She comes to realize that Sailor Moon's power is the most radiant and beautiful and reaches out to her, but it is too late – she is destroyed by the very darkness she sought to control.
Now Sailor Moon must stand up to CHAOS, but before she does Chibi Chibi reveals a shocking bit of information – Chaos has merged with the Galaxy Cauldron, which means if she destroys one she will also destroy the other. Chaos being merged with the Galaxy Cauldron presents a conflicting problem. If Sailor Moon destroys Chaos, she will effectively end all war and strife within the galaxy, but she would also be destroying any and all chance for future life. But there is another option – she can preserve both which would ensure that life continues, but she'd also be essentially setting in stone the irreversible fact that Chaos would one day be reborn and the battle against the darkness would be eternally on-going. Sailor Moon decides that although she knows there will always be sadness, loneliness, anger and battles, she believes that living – loving and being loved – is worth the price of admission. She believes that they must not be afraid of the darkness and should believe in each other and the power of the light.
She descends into the Galaxy Cauldron, taking Chaos with her and calls upon the souls of all the senshi in the Cauldron to aid her as she sacrifices herself – which causes its essence to dissipate enough to be temporary sealed away, granting the galaxy a temporary reprieve. She meets with Guardian Cosmos and is given a choice – remain in the Galaxy Cauldron with the Sailor Crystals in their purest form or go back to living her every day life with the promise that enemies will constantly attack her and seek her out – her heart a powerful and shining beacon to all. She decides that she wants to live with everyone, no matter what comes with it and then returns to Earth with her friends restored. All the Sailor Crystals and star seeds return to their respectively planets and life begins anew for the entire galaxy.
